Over The Clouds
by FreakishMind
Summary: Soma can't help the bitterness he feels whenever he looks above. Each night reminds him of his bittersweet separation. In thick and thin, Vendetta has guided him through them all but despite what he experienced first hand, Soma still doesn't understand that whatever was given to him, if not cared for, will be taken back. Besides, the leader can't protect her pack forever.
1. The Moon Is Soaked In Sadness

**THE MOON IS SOAKED IN SADNESS**

_"Hey...what're you doing looking so sad? You already have everything...everything that I could ever want...everything...I could never have."_

* * *

"Soma." Soma hears his name being called and turns to search for its source. After examining his surroundings and finding no other soul there besides his own, he dismisses it as his mere imagination but the moment he turns forward to return home for the day, he stumbles slightly at the sound of a 'boo!' and the sudden appearance of the den's fearless leader, smiling down at him.

"Shit, how many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on me?" He sighs in resignation at Vendetta's usual recklessness.

"Idiot, what if I thought you were an aragami? I could've slashed you to hell." Soma scowls at the thought itself and glowers at the laid back lieutenant who is currently chuckling in amusement.

"One, if I was an aragami then you'd already be dead and two, technically, I didn't sneak up on your back. I snuck up on your front." She smiles that same lighthearted grin that had saved them all time and time again. That kind smile that calmed Sakuya down during the search for Lindow's armlet, the same smile that Alisa happily woke up to everyday when she was detained in the nurse's office, the kind and vibrant grin that assured them all that everything would turn out fine even as Nova's activation leave tremors on their feet. She stares at him blankly, confused by his silent gaze.

"Tch. Wiseass." Hiding behind the cover of his hood, he blushes in embarrassment at being caught staring. Understanding Soma's habit of hiding his face away whenever he's embarrassed, Vendetta laughs silently at his flustered state. Understanding Vendetta's habit of concealing her laughter whenever she finds something amusing, Soma glares at the chuckling girl in front of him.

"So, what're you doing here? I didn't ask for any backup." He finally stops to wonder. It was unusual for another Gods Eater to be sent on a mission that someone's already accepted. Though he had no doubt that the doc, their current acting director, wasn't scheming anything behind their backs like his SOB father, still, Soma couldn't help but feel a sense of worry as the memory of their clash with Lindow's team in the 'Moon In The Welkin' mission flooded his mind.

He knew very well how that mission ended and he couldn't think of what they'd all do if their well-loved (perhaps to the point of obsession) rookie leader wound up missing. Every Gods Eater in the Far East Branch could disregard their responsibilities just to find her. Even he couldn't give a rat's ass to what Tsubaki had to say, he won't give up searching for her until he brings his idiot moron of a leader back to the den.

"Relax. I just got back from a mission when Hibari told me that you went out on a mission alone." Sensing his growing anxiety, she assures him that she wouldn't be going MIA or KIA anytime soon.

"I can handle a few Ogretails alone, you know." He sighs again but out of relief for the most part. Of course, that's something he would never admit out loud. He starts to walk again and Vendetta follows suit.

"I know but it's been a long time since you've gone out on your own so I was just wondering if something was up." Come to think of it, it really has been a long time since he took on a mission alone. Lately, if Tsubaki wasn't forcing him to train the new-type rookies, he'd be on a mission with his group.

"And if something was wrong, you think I'd actually tell you?" She flinches slightly at his hostility and even Soma finds his own words too harsh. He knew that their leader was just trying to help and he knew that reverting back to his old ways wouldn't solve anything but even so, at nights like these, he couldn't control the bitterness he felt towards everything around him.

"No, but I could guess." She looks to the sky. Staring at the moon as if she knows more than she lets on and perhaps she did. To a bystander, it would seem like she was smiling to herself but Soma knew that she was smiling at the little girl on the moon. The little girl that he fell in love with. The little girl that he had to devour just to save this godforsaken world. He winces at the memory of having to devour the girl he loves. They became one, yes, but not in the way that Soma would have wanted.

"...It's nothing. Not like you could actually do anything about it." The sound of his voice dies out towards the end of his sentence as he realizes that lashing out at her would also solve nothing. So he resigned himself to just staring at the bright moon, mysteriously covered with vegetation. He wonders if Shio misses him too.

"The moon is soaked in sadness. It quietly paints the land red and disappears. The tears that overflow your heart are surely proof of your wish for a future. Gaze forward without lamenting your current powerlessness. If you still hold feelings for someone even though your wings have become tattered, you can fly away no matter what pain you might face." She finishes her puzzling rant with a smile on her face. A kind smile, for once not directed at anyone else. A gentle smile, for once holding no vibrancy. A sad smile, for once lingering on her lips. A smile for herself. A smile that not many has had the misfortune of noticing. A broken smile. A smile that has braced countless painful memories locked deep within her heart. A smile that many has overlooked. A smile hidden beneath her assuring warmth.

Soma could only stare as his mind slowly starts to process her words. If he had ever felt as powerless as he does now, it would be the time when he could only watch as Shio took Nova to the moon. Now, at this very moment, he feels that sense of powerlessness once again, when all he could do for his clearly saddened leader is remain silent so that he doesn't hurt her more than he already has. Guilt etches his mind but he refuses to think on it any further.

"It's a part of a song. I can't remember how it was sung but those words haven't left me since the first time I've heard it. It always makes me feel better when I'm PMS-ing. Maybe it'd do the same for you." She smirks at her hidden insult and chuckles at the length of time it took for him to understand it. Realizing that she had practically called him a PMS-ing bitch (indirectly) Soma growls out a rather loud "HEY!" while she runs off, laughing all the way. The tension and bitterness from before, buried and forgotten.

She always did have a way with changing the mood of even the most dire of situations. A long time ago, he felt that she'd even become a second Lindow. But he realizes soon after that it wasn't Lindow's charm that she was imitating. It wasn't Lindow's charm that gathered people around her and it wasn't Lindow's charm that made Lindow himself respect her as an equal. It was her own.

Still laughing to herself, Vendetta leaves him behind to find his own peace of mind. Though his thoughts lingered at her words, his heart wanders toward the young leader behind him. Perhaps it was his enhanced senses or perhaps it was his unusual habit of tuning into every sound Vendetta makes but his ears listen intently for her silent footsteps. Sensing that she's stopped in her tracks, far beyond the range of a human's hearing, Soma again listens intently to whatever sound his leader would make.

"Happy anniversary, Soma...Shio." Soma suddenly chokes on air as he turns to face her but she was already beyond even his own enhanced hearing so she was nowhere near his line of sight or his radar. Deciding to cut his visit short, since his thoughts were filled by a certain raven-haired leader of his (and he's not talking about Lindow, mind you) he returns to the pick up point, hoping that she'd still be there.

"Hey..." True enough, there she stood tall, her dark raven locks contrasting sharply against the white snow of the Forgotten Temples. Still thinking that his short lovesick tantrum against her was absolutely uncalled for, he stays silent even as he catches up to her, debating with himself on whether to apologize or not. Her usual smile assures him and he finally responds to her with a slight nod of his head. Motioning her free hand upwards, Soma looks up to see the chopper arriving retrieve them.

The aircraft's loud propellers had blocked out any other sounds within the vicinity which Soma found extremely annoying as he could see his leader speaking to someone over the intercom but he had no way of knowing who she was talking to and what they were talking about. He barely makes out a man's voice from their conversation and a slight irritation crept up on him. Vendetta smiles, not at him but at something the voice had said and he frowns. She laughs and at this, Soma glares violently at nothing in particular. Oddly enough, he doesn't even stop to think about the unnatural possessiveness he had towards his leader.

'Tch. What the hell am I getting all pissed about?' He finally asks himself but he glances her way and he sees that she still had that stupid lovestruck smile on her face. He was irritated. He was angry and to top it all off he suddenly felt sick to the stomach. No, not the stomach. What felt sick…was his heart.

* * *

**lunyan, thanks a lot for pointing out that typo, I can't believe I missed it! How awkward would it be if Soma suddenly started slashing origamis? LOL **

**Strife Atreyu, I've never been commended before and you did it twice. So thank you! :D I followed your advice and I cut the really long paragraphs in half for easier reading and as for the similes, I'll try to look them up.**

**Again, thank you both for the reviews and I'll try to update as soon as I can. Reviews really do make my day so keep them coming. Cheers~**


	2. It Paints The Land Red And Disappears

**IT QUIETLY PAINTS THE LAND RED AND DISAPPEARS**

_"How could you make such a great impact on his life and just leave so suddenly? How could you paint the Earth with your blood and make him devour it?"_

* * *

Vendetta was oddly chirpier than usual throughout the whole chopper ride back to the den. She kept shifting in her seat and tapping her feet every few seconds, it was starting to drive Soma insane. Not only that, she also kept looking out the open door as if she was about ready to jump off the helicopter at any given time.

To top it all off, she still had that stupid lopsided grin stuck on her face. Twitching in annoyance at the twelfth giggle that had escaped her lips, Soma's innate ability to ignore everything around him finally snaps in two.

"What the hell are you so happy about?" He growls. Vendetta jumps slightly at Soma's sudden inquiry and her brain desperately tries to rake up some form of response as if on overdrive. Coming up with nothing to set as an excuse for her clearly suspicious behavior, she went with the only answer her simple mind could think of.

"It's nothing." She answers as casually as she could but the excitement in her voice betrayed her.

"You've been giggling like an idiot for the past hour and..." Soma hears the shuffling of her feet. Sure enough, the tapping followed suit. Accompanied by another giggle.

"Shut up before I shove my blade down your throat." It wasn't a threat. It was an ultimatum. Soma's narrowed eyes drove that point home. Not one to go down without a fight, Vendetta crosses her arms in defiance. A playful grin settling on her lips.

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try that without swallowing some of my oracle bullets in the process. You'd be on your knees reciting your apology like a mantra when I'm through with you." She laughs. Soma contemplates on it and thinks that maybe picking a fight with a new-type who could switch between forms within a matter of seconds wasn't the wisest thing to do if he wanted to stay alive.

Irritated at the thought of losing the argument, he opts to appear as if he's ignoring her. By experience, he knew that Vendetta hated being ignored by him above all else.

"Soma? Hey, Soma. Don't ignore me when I'm winning, dammit!" She grumbles at his sudden silence. Internally, Soma could almost smile at their childish antics. These small arguments may have seemed petty to the average bystander but to Soma, they were proof. Proof that he was still human. That even he could get into silly fights and just act like the child that he never had the chance to be.

Fenrir finally comes into their line of view and the chopper slows into a stop. As soon as the helicopter lands, Vendetta immediately jumps out of her seat and dashes towards the elevator without so much as a glance towards his way. She didn't even wait for him to get on when she clicked the elevator door shut. Now that was definitely nothing. What was she hiding from him? Peeved at her for being so secretive when she was always an open book to him, he stops in his tracks when he remembers her earlier conversation over the intercom.

Thoughts of 'who was she talking to?' and 'what was she so damn happy about?' dominated Soma's mind. He wasn't an idiot by far, he knows how to put two and two together but when he tries to think about why Vendetta suddenly became so happy after talking to the man, he stops wanting to think at all. Then there's the unanswered question of why he was so pissed at the whole thing in the first place.

Soma starts making his way to the den and back to his room, hoping to at least get some rest for the night. Thoughts of the moon and the little girl on it far from his mind. Replaced by silly banters and idiotic arguments with a certain raven haired girl who is never short of something to say.

When Soma steps out of the elevator and into the veteran's section, he catches a glimpse of Kota entering Vendetta's room. Thinking back on it, the voice he heard over the intercom could have sounded like Kota's. Was that it? Did Kota and their leader...

'Tch. Why the hell am I even thinking about this?' Remembering his initial exhaustion and his plan to sleep on it, Soma makes his way towards his room. Deciding to skip his nightly practice, he sits on the edge of his bed. Closing his eyes, he remembers the first time that Vendetta entered (barged) his room. The girl was still a rookie then and she didn't even feel the need to knock. From the first moment she arrived until now, Vendetta always looked like she belonged in the den. Like there was nowhere else she would rather be.

He can't remember what she wanted to talk about since he just told her to get the hell out and leave him alone. Now that he thought about it, that was probably around the time when Eric died. She was a rookie who just saw a comrade die right in front of her eyes. Was she there to find comfort in someone who went through what she did? Suddenly, Soma started to feel sick again. This time he clutches at his shirt where his heart was supposed to be. Perhaps unconsciously, he knew that his heart was aching.

Thoughts of Kota and Vendetta suddenly fills his mind. Was he jealous of what they had? At what he couldn't have with Shio? Whatever it was, something ate away at his heart and his thoughts couldn't help to wander on what Kota was doing in Vendetta's room. His enhanced hearing wouldn't be of much use to him now since every room has been sound proofed at Dr. Sakaki's insistence. With the exhaustion from today's mission finally catching up to him, Soma slowly drifts into sleep. Thoughts of Vendetta still violating his mind.

"Good morning, Soma!" As soon as Soma steps out of the elevator, he sees Kota sitting next to their leader. The pair was smiling way too happily like a couple of lovestruck birds. Soma noticed that as usual, everybody flocked around her. Her smiles and laughter were contagious.

"Shut up." Remembering that Kota had given him a greeting, Soma answers him with a snarl. Kota's happy-go-lucky cheeriness was somehow starting to irk him and Soma didn't even know why.

'What the hell is he so happy about?' Soma could take a guess but he decided to ask himself anyway, unwilling to acknowledge the answer that he's come up with.

"Jeez. Someone's in a bad mood." Kota whispers to their leader who met his with words a smile and, of course, a few comments of her own.

"What's the matter, Soma? Still in need of some tampons?" She teases but Soma was not in a playful mood. He doesn't even meet her taunts with his scowls like he usually does.

"...hmph." He sees Lindow and Sakuya down at Hibari's counter and ponders joining them in a mission. Heck, he'll go with anyone right now if it meant getting away from the cheery atmosphere between Kota and Vendetta. Ah, but then he'd have to deal with the pinkly atmosphere of the two newlyweds instead.

'I can't win either way.' Soma winces at the thought. An action caught by Vendetta who was making her way down the flight of stairs. Concerned, she asks him if he was okay and he meets her question with only silence.

"Hey, Soma. Take this mission with me." Vendetta waves the small piece of paper which had the writings of 'Kongou' and 'Tranquil Temple' on it. Her usual lighthearted grin still etched on her face despite his coldness towards her.

"No." He instantaneously answers like a rebellious child on a tantrum. Lindow, who overheard their usual exchange of banter laughs heartily at Soma's immaturity. The former leader was clearly happy with how far Vendetta had come with Soma. Anyone could see that he only acted this way around Vendetta, Soma just hasn't realized it yet.

At first, even Lindow had silently thought that Vendetta was just like the rest that had come and go. He didn't actually think that she would follow up on his order to befriend Soma but he was extremely glad that she did. Sakuya might have told him that Soma started to open up more to them because of Shio but somehow Lindow knew that Vendetta had also made quite the impact on the usually stoic male.

It was a given since Vendetta was the one who stood by him from the moment they first met until even now. Sadly, Soma had a bad habit of not understanding what he had right in front of him until after it's gone. Lindow could only hope that it doesn't come to that.

"Aw, come on, Soma, you're not really going to turn down that face are you?" As per Lindow's words, Vendetta immediately pulled the best puppy face she could muster up. With both her hands clasped together resting on her chin, she pouted her mouth and lightly raised ber brows. Pleading for him to go all the while.

"No...and get the hell off me!"Soma brushes off Lindow's arm which hooked clownishly on the back of his neck and growls out a retort.

"I as your former leader, order you to go on a mission with her!" Lindow exclaims authoritatively, his arms crossed in a commanding manner. To which, Vendetta mirrors his exact same stance.

"And I as your current leader, order you to go on a mission with me!" By now, the whole den was laughing at the two's silly antics.

"Damn you both!" Soma stomps off towards the vendor and angrily barks out his orders of ten rations. As the merchant was still scrambling for the items he had ordered, Soma spots Kota nearing their leader with that same carefree smile still carved on his face.

"Hey, if he doesn't wanna go with you then take me!" He chirps in cheerfully. Pissed, Soma quickly gathers up his rations and walks towards them. Lindow, who was by now chatting happily with Sakuya, caught Soma's annoyance with the corner of his eye. Smiling knowingly to himself, he signals for Sakuya to look at what's about to happen.

"What the hell are you standing around for? Let's go." He aggravatingly takes her arm, a scowl evident on his face, and pulls her towards the elevator. Without even letting Kota finish what he was saying, he closes the elevator door shut and clicks for the rooftop.

"Oh my." Sakuya giggles while Lindow sighs at Soma's ignorance. How could he be laced with so much jealousy and still not realize what he felt for the girl? But then again, who was he to call the kettle black? It took him years to realize what he felt for Sakuya. Smiling to himself, he glances at the beauty who he now had the right and honor of calling his wife.

"What was that all about?" Kota puzzlingly wonders out loud. Both Sakuya and Lindow could only chuckle at the other clueless fool among them. Honestly, what was the only married couple in the whole den supposed to do with a couple of lovestruck teens who hadn't the slightest clue about their feelings?

Meanwhile, inside the elevator, Vendetta just couldn't stop teasing Soma for what he did. She was never going to let this live down and sure enough, she's started poking him constantly for taking her arm and leading her away.

"Jealous that I won't get to spend as much time with you anymore?" She jokingly asks. Sighing, Soma couldn't believe that he would willingly subject himself to this but he wasn't about to let Vendetta go on a mission alone with that dolt, Kota. Sure, they've been on missions alone together before but that was then. Before Soma started feeling pissed at the very thought of seeing them together.

Now that he thought about it, when did it all start? After he'd told her about his birth on the Forgotten Carrier? After Shio took Nova to the moon? And why has he stopped feeling as bitter as he did before whenever the thought of Shio crossed his mind?

* * *

**And that's a wrap on the second chapter of 'Over The Clouds'! Again, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and review. If there are any mistakes that I missed, point them out to me yeah? :3 I lovee me some reviews~ Hate it, love it, just tell me. I'll try to update again when I can so see you then!**


	3. Can You Hear My Voice?

**CAN YOU HEAR MY VOICE?**

"_How could I not? It was your voice that made him smile."_

* * *

Their mission was to eliminate one Kongou at the Tranquil Temples. It wasn't as simple as an Ogretail extermination mission but it sure beats having to take care of those pesky winged Chi-yous. Considering that the person leading this mission was none other that the leader of unit one herself, Tsubaki had no qualms whatsoever about giving her approval.

Lindow didn't even stop to question Vendetta's motive for taking Soma because, frankly, he thinks that he already knew. Being a common resident of the area since birth, Lindow knew that Vendetta had chosen that area specifically for its clear view of the moon. Sometimes even he didn't know what to do with their small laid-back busybody of a leader. Always thinking about other people's feelings above her own.

Although Sakuya did comment that during the time that he had gone missing, Vendetta reminded her painfully of Lindow. Tsubaki had said something along those lines as well. Lindow smiles, thinking that if he ever decided that he was ready to start a family with Sakuya then his son or daughter would be have to be a lot like Vendetta.

Speaking of which...

"You never did tell me why you pulled my arm back there." Vendetta was still going on about what Soma did back in the den. It's been well over an hour now and Soma could just barely contain the itch he felt on his hand. If his moronic idiot of a leader wasn't planning to stop this anytime soon then that Kongou better be one hell of a target or he'll decimate the entire field.

"You're a moron." He growls. Really, he was on the verge of madness. He crosses his arms and directs his gaze to the chopper's metallic floor. Anything was a better sight than the goofy smile on her face right now. It was hard for him to admit but her smile was bad for his heart. Something always seemed to happen whenever he catches even a glimpse of it. It assured him that she always had his back but at the same time it scared him. If everyone else depended on her then who did she have left to depend on? Whose shoulder does she cry on behind her bedroom doors? Kota's?

Suddenly, Soma clicks his tongue at the memory of Kota entering her room the previous night and irritation crept up within him. His foot unconsciously bangs the seat in front of him and Vendetta jumps slightly in her seat. Soma hadn't meant to startle her but the thought of her clinging on to Kota for support somehow disturbed him.

Before Vendetta could say anything about it, however, the pilot alerts them that they were almost at their destination. As the temples finally came into view, the chopper hovers above their usual drop off point and the pilot motions for his passengers to jump. Taking their cue, both Vendetta and Soma expertly leaps from the still hovering helicopter and lands fluidly on the snowy ground with a soft crunchy thud.

Vendetta remembers the first time she was forced to jump off the chopper. She was so terrified that Lindow had to push her out, therefore resulting in her landing majestically on her butt. She snickers at the memory and Soma raises a brow at her.

"What the hell are you laughing about now?" Disregarding the annoyance in his tone, Vendetta proceeds to recount the sad tale of her first experience with the chopper. As she finishes narrating her story, Soma's smiles slightly at the memory of his first meeting with the blundering new-type rookie. She had been so clueless, carelessly shooting away left and right, occasionally hitting even him.

Well, it wasn't her fault to begin with (or so she would say in her defense), she was a rookie who just watched her comrade die and Soma had even intimidated her into staying out of his way without so much as an introduction. So he couldn't blame her if she 'accidentally' shot him once or twice out of spite.

"Hey, Soma. Your birthday's tomorrow isn't it?" Vendetta abruptly asks as they made their way towards an open area.

"Where did you hear that?" He asks uninterestedly. To him, a birthday was nothing more than a date to tell you how many years you've survived in this godawful world. He once truly believed that his birthday served only as a reminder of the day another monster was born but the people around him (he wasn't about to point out a certain red-eyed blathering fool of a leader by name) was slowly starting to make him think otherwise.

"Old man Sakaki!" Vendetta grins, relieved that the tip he gave her turned out to be credible after all. Honestly, she'd be lying if she said that there hadn't been even a moment of doubt for him. She seriously thought that the doc was just pulling her leg again when he secretly pulled her aside and told her about Soma's coming birthday.

'Damn that sneaky old bast-.' Soma stops in his long line of thoughts and curses as he sees Vendetta hold out her free hand which was apparently holding onto something since she had closed it into a small fist. She was grinning again and Soma sets his gaze elsewhere as if on reflex.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hand." She says. Looking evidently pleased with herself, she urges him to be quick.

"No." At the very moment Soma uttered his refusal, Vendetta immediately lets loose her ultimate weapon. The 'puppy-dog-left-out-in-the-rain' face. Knowing that she wouldn't leave him alone until he does as she says, Soma sighs in resignation and closes his eyes. Soon after he holds out his hand, he feels a cold metal-like object being placed upon his palm.

Warm hands suddenly enveloped his icy cool one and Soma internally fights the growing desire to open his eyes. Vendetta closes his palm shut and balls it into a fist. Just when Soma thought that she was finally done, he feels another warmth on his hand which consequently spreads throughout his body. It was a gentle touch, probably the gentlest he's ever known. It was the touch of her lips.

"W-what the hell are you doing, idiot?" By now, Soma's mind went on full burst mode. His eyes shot open and he abruptly pulled his hand away from the source of his rapid heartbeat. He hides his face behind the cover of his hood, unwilling to let her see the tint of pink which bloomed on his cheeks. However, Vendetta was never one to overlook anything, not when it came to Soma, so she easily spots his embarrassment. Another smile lights up her face.

"Open it." Assuming that she was talking about his hand, Soma slowly opens his palm. It was a metal necklace shaped in Fenrir's signature logo but what really caught his attention was the soft and gentle light which swirled at its centre. The light starts to change color as if it responded to his thoughts. First, it shone a bright yellow. Then it swirled into an ocean-like blue. Soon after, it spirals into a spectrum of different colors at once.

"People used to call it a mood ring. I didn't think that you'd wear a ring though so I had it customized into a necklace." Vendetta explains. Soma was clearly at a loss of what to do and how to act. He's never been given a present before. No one ever trained him in this situation. So he chooses to just remain silent. Sensing his quiet distress, Vendetta assures him that it's alright.

"Since you suck at expressing your emotions, I thought a mood ring would help you figure out how to do that. I even brought the list of colors and their meanings! Now, let's see..." Vendetta glances down at the necklace still placed firmly on Soma's palm, to which he does the same. She goes silent at the sight of it and so does he. It was glowing pink.

It didn't take Soma much to know what the intrusive color meant. Before giving Vendetta the chance to comment on it, he brashly shoves the necklace into his pocket and storms off towards the largest temple.

"Wait, I forgot one more thing!" She shouted after him.

"What?!" He was already embarrassed enough as he was.

"Happy birthday, Soma!" He stops in his tracks. Something had shifted in his heart. He knew it. He just didn't knew what.

"Tch. Idiot..." He mutters as if to himself. Still refusing to face her out of embarrassment, he pulls his hood back and quickly puts the necklace on his neck. Vendetta could only gape at what she saw. As quickly as he pulled his hood down, Soma pulls it up again, hiding his face away once more and continues on walking. He glances down at his necklace and sees it glow a deep violet. He still didn't knew it then but that was the color of a person in love.

* * *

**Aaand there you have it~ Chapter 3 of 'Over The Clouds'! **

**First off, THANK YOU for all your reviews! it keeps me motivated to do more even though I'm starting to lose sleep because of this LOL :3 Anyways, I love you guys a lot so I'll try to update again soon~ **

**Tell me what you think of this one, yeah? I think I'm losing touch with Soma's character :S I may need to play the game all over again which...doesn't sound so bad now that I think about it. XD (I get to meet Soma again!)**

**Laters!**


	4. Can I Stay In This Bloodthirsty Era?

**CAN I STAY MYSELF IN THIS BLOODTHIRSTY ERA?**

"_Nova was in your cells and it ordered you to destroy the Earth but you didn't. Anyone who would doubt the human inside of you is just an idiot."_

* * *

"Any luck?" Vendetta asks over the intercom. She had given the order to search and disperse but they've been at it for half an hour now and she still saw no sign of the Kongou. Vendetta sighed for the eighth time that night and finally gives in to her fatigue. Running around the place non-stop was starting to take its toll on her body. Vendetta was gradually losing her stamina and she usually had plenty to boast of.

"Tch. That damn monkey is more trouble than its worth." Soma complains as he also starts to feel the exhaustion from all the running he's done. Groaning, he sets down his god arc and waits for his leader to give her order.

"Let's just regroup for now. I'll meet you back at the drop off point." She tiredly says between heavy breaths. Soma could hear the shuffling of snow from his radio and he knew without a doubt that she was off fooling around again. Sure enough, Vendetta was currently attempting to make a mini snowman out of the snow beneath her feet.

"Keep that up and you'll end up dead." He states, concealing the worry from his voice. Soma had watched one too many God Eaters die from their own carelessness and he wasn't willing to let his leader go out for such a stupid reason.

"Worried?" Soma could almost see the expression on her face right now and his eye twitches in annoyance. She was enjoying this, dammit.

"Like hell." Soma answers without hesitation. He hears her laugh over the intercom. Soon after that, he hears the soft scuffling of her feet from behind him. Vendetta was attempting to sneak up on him. Unfortunately, that wasn't something that could be easily done when Soma was currently so aware of her.

"Don't even try." Soma warns. Stopping just before letting out very loud 'boo', Vendetta freezes and slumps to the ground in defeat. Disappointment became evident on her face. With Soma's eyes still set on her, she starts to shape a ball from the snow beneath her.

Without warning, she throws it at him with all the force that she could muster up despite her exhaustion. Expertly avoiding her attack, he glares at her offending hand. Then he remembers that it was the same hand that had offered him the necklace that currently hung from his neck. Consequently, he recalls the soft kiss she planted on his hand and reddens at the thought of it.

Soma wanted to ask about what she did but not wanting to make a fool of himself, he decided against it. Why did his heart almost stop at the slight touch of her lips? Soma wanted to blame the cold weather but he knew that the snow wasn't even remotely responsible for heating up his body.

Unbeknownst to him, his necklace shimmered a blushing pink throughout the duration of his thoughts. Spotting the necklace and the bright pinkish light it was emitting, Vendetta smiles at its implication and chuckles silently to herself. Soma finally snaps out of his thoughts and glances at the necklace hanging from his neck. Mortified at the pinkish hue that betrayed his thoughts, he quickly pulls the side of his jacket in an attempt to cover the treacherous object.

"Hibari, you there?" Vendetta calls out from her intercom.

"Yes? Is something wrong?" She asks, her tone laced with concern.

"We've been going around in circles and Soma is starting to look like I stole his rationed pudding. Can we go home now?" She playfully whines to the young operator. Soma raises his brow at her antics.

"That won't be as funny as you think when I burn down your ration supplies." He smirks at the mock fear that she held in her expression. If the world wasn't crawling with aragami and she didn't sign up to be a Gods Eater then maybe she would've been an actress, Soma thinks.

"Give me a sec." Hibari laughs at their usual banter and starts typing away on the Norn database.

"Hm. That's odd. The readings show that the Kongou is still somewhere in the area. Are you sure you've checked everywhere?" She asks, confused by the lack of aragami activity. The radar was going ballistic. An aragami that had that much energy must've tried to prey on them by now. It didn't make any sense.

"So is that a no to the 'can we go home now' part?" Vendetta asks dejectedly. It was cold out here and she already accomplished what she came out here to do anyway. It had taken her weeks of material gathering just to forge that necklace alone. Not to mention the additional overtime she offered Kota in exchange for the mood ring. She promised him weeks of covering for his extermination missions since he was more of a scout than a soldier.

"Affirmative. You can't abandon this mission without proper approval from Tsubaki first. Standard procedure. Sorry, Vendetta." Hibari apologizes, silently praying for Vendetta's soul to rest in peace should she really wish to go through with abandoning the mission.

Asking Tsubaki about approval for aborting a mission never goes well with anyone, not even Lindow. You better expect to either have your workload increased by threefold or have your ration supplies cut off by two-thirds. At the state she was in, Vendetta just can't afford to pick either.

"Heh. Good luck with that." Soma smirks in amusement at the distress their usually calm leader was clearly in. Despite the fact that he was enjoying every second of this, he could relate to what she was feeling at the moment. Facing Tsubaki was like charging a Corrosive Hannibal head on with a level one short sword. It was just plain stupid.

"Soma, I order you to face Tsubaki's wrath on my behalf." Vendetta orders him, disdain etched on her face. Thoughts of a certain retired sniper and the threat of being 'killed over something stupid' plaguing her mind.

"No way. You were the one who took on this stupid mission." He answers without hesitation. Soma wasn't about to willingly subject himself to a torture session with Tsubaki. Not even for a million years worth of rations.

"She's gonna kill me, Soma!" Vendetta pleads. Is this how it's all going to end? Was she going to get killed by a clipboard? A pen maybe? The more she thought about it, the more petrified she became.

"Remind me to thank her when she's done." Before Vendetta could comment on that seemingly innocent statement, she suddenly picks up the stomping sounds of large feet on crunchy snow. Soma hears the same. Searching their immediate perimeters, Vendetta and Soma then looks above in response to a loud, ear-splitting roar. Lo and behold, it was the ever elusive Kongou that almost became the reason for Vendetta's demotion.

"The roof. It was on the fucking roof." Soma repeats, unable to believe in the absurdity of his very sentence. Why didn't 'hey, let's check the rooftops' ever cross their minds? Well, don't blame Soma. His mind was too preoccupied by the dangling chain that hung from his neck and the raven-haired girl that gave it to him.

"Honestly, I never thought I'd be glad to see an aragami trying to eat me." Vendetta lightheartedly comments as the large beast lets out a steamy puff of cold breath at the sight of its meal.

This particular Kongou seemed calmer than the rest as if it was patiently waiting for one of its supposed prey to make a move. Unfortunately, a Kongou was still just a monkey at heart. A few more minutes of staying still and the overgrown baboon was bound to leap straight at them.

"Here it comes. Don't get in my way." Soma says as he lifts up the god arc he had rested on his shoulder and points it towards her, his eyes never leaving their prey.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll try not to shoot you this time." She jokes, switching to gun form in a matter of seconds, with a grin stuck on her face. Maybe she was just glad that she didn't have to abort this mission and face Tsubaki's fury. Then Soma directs his god arc away from her and towards his target, eyes narrowing in concentration.

With a nod of her head, he leaps toward the Kongou while she leaps away from it to get a better shot. Taking down a Kongou was relatively easy. All you had to do was aim at its face with a bullet it was weak to. In this case, Tsubaki had warned her beforehand that this particular Kongou was weak to fire. Hence, the fire-based arsenal of bullets she chose to bring along for the mission. Vendetta even asked Licca to forge her a blazing short blade.

The heaviness of Soma's buster blade was starting to weaken the Kongou as it began to move slower. Its movement was also starting to become more predictable. Vendetta was relentless with her sharp turning shots which expertly avoided Soma despite him jumping around all over the place.

Soma noticed between slashes that Vendetta may have just been the sharpest shooter in the whole den. Not only did she avoid hitting him, her bullets also kept striking the Kongou's face with every shot she takes. Whilst they were still in the middle of their fight, both Soma and Vendetta hears a monotonous beep from their radios. The intercom was ringing and Hibari was on the line.

"Kinda busy here, Hibari." Vendetta says between shots. She was running out of OP and fast. They need to get this Kongou down soon or she might have to switch forms while she waits to for her bullets to replenish.

"Be careful! A new reading just came up and it's huge!" Hibari abruptly exclaims. Soon after, a loud growl could be heard from the distance and through experience, Vendetta knew exactly where it came from.

"An Ouroboros?! Here?!" This was the Forgotten Temples, no Ouroboros has ever stepped foot here before. Theoretically, their skin wasn't able to withstand the extreme weather. They needed to be somewhere damp and dark in order to survive but here was one right in front of their eyes and it was looking alive and well.

Soma was caught off guard by its sudden appearance. The Kongou sees its chance to strike and gathers what little energy it had left into one last attack. Soma realizes too late that the Kongou was about to attack him straight on. Everything went by too fast even for eyes as enhanced as his. As suddenly as he turned to look at the oncoming Kongou, he saw a flash of black and realizes that it was Vendetta's hair.

"Vendetta!" She had shielded him from the attack but she was still in gun form. Gunners weren't meant to be on the front lines, they were just supposed to shoot from afar. That's exactly why their guns aren't made to withstand heavy attacks. Sure enough, Vendetta's gun had cracked apart and she was thrown to the ground, her blood coloring the white snow red.

The last thing she saw was Soma's necklace which gradually darkened into a light shade of brown. After memorizing the list she got from Kota in an effort to understand Soma's emotions, she knew by heart that the color brown signified his fear.

When she came to, all she could see was the whiteness of an empty ceiling. It took her a while to realize that she was in the sick bay. It took her another while to notice that she wasn't alone. Standing next to her bed is one very pissed off Soma Schicksal with his necklace glaring an angry crimson.

* * *

**Hey yo~ This chapter's a little later than the rest that I've uploaded since I've been busy playing the game from scratch. Now, I'm at the point in the game where Soma starts warming up to Shio...oh Soma, how my heart aches whenever I see you with Shio, where's the love for our main characters huh? I saved the world, defeated Nova, brought back Lindow etc etc, you'd think someone would've fallen for me by now...I don't care if it's just a side character, just give me some loooove~ :'(**

**LOL**

**Anyways, Thank you all for the reviews you've given! I've been playing my PSP non-stop, I didn't get the chance to touch my laptop. So, again, I hope you enjoy this one. (I'm happy to let you know that I'm already working on the next one as we speak) I love reviews but I love the reviewers even more so thank you, again~ 3**

**I love you guys~ - FreakishMind**


	5. It's The Prelude To An Endless Fight

**IT'S THE PRELUDE TO A FIGHT THAT HAS NO END IN SIGHT**

_"Now don't say that. Even if you have to lie, just tell me that someday we can live in a world where Gods Eaters aren't needed. No one wants to fight an endless battle."_

* * *

Soma barges into the den abruptly with Vendetta bleeding profusely in his arms. Her blood drips mercilessly down her hanging left arm like open tap water. It paints the metal floor crimson and Soma flinches at the sight of her blood needlessly wasting away. Where was help when you needed it? Of course, 'help' had to come in the worst way possible for Soma. It came in the form of one very loud Kota.

"Vendetta!" Kota immediately jumps at the sight of her bloodied and lifeless form, alarm marring his usually cheery features. Alisa, who had been sitting just next to him, gasps when she realizes how critical Vendetta's injuries were and quickly rushes off to retrieve Sakuya.

Their clear distress (and clamorous on Kota's part) attracted the attention of every member currently present in the den and soon enough, dozens of people had flocked around them. Curious questions laced their tongues and panic engraved in their faces.

"I'll take her to the sick bay!" As Kota makes his way towards Soma in an attempt to relieve her from his arms, pure irritation seethed in Soma's veins and his grip on her only tightens in response.

"Don't touch her." He growls out violently, his eyes narrowing dangerously in aggravation like an animal threatened of its possession. Kota jumps slightly at the sudden hostility and steps back to give way. Soma strides, with guilty satisfaction in his steps, towards the elevator doors. Just then, its metallic doors open to reveal Lindow, clearly distraught, and an equally concerned Sakuya in his shadow.

"Rookie! Soma, what happened?!" It was unusual to see Lindow so grim, a sign of how dire the whole situation really was. Never once had they seen such a sight, their leader unconscious and their former leader for once without a grin in sight. Like Kota, Lindow attempts to take Vendetta from Soma's arms and just like before, he answers the gesture with a snarl, unwilling to let go.

"Soma, we've gotta take her to the sick bay." Lindow presses, insisting that Soma let go so that Sakuya could examine her injuries.

"Yeah, what's up with you?" Kota intervenes. It was selfish. Soma knew that he was being stupid but he just couldn't help himself. He wasn't willing to admit it but he knew that he was terrified.

A plethora of mixed emotions flooded through him. He was petrified at the thought of her dying. With shock and a slight mix of guilt embedded into his mind, his arms finally loosen, giving que for Lindow to take her from him.

A sharp pang of something he couldn't identify shot through him and he could barely manage to keep himself from wincing. All he could do now was wait. Hoping for someone else to accomplish something that he couldn't and he hated the notion more than anything else.

"Look, I know you're worried and-" As they wait in front of the sick bay, Kota starts a conversation in an attempt to relieve some of the tension that clearly thickened the air.

"Shut up." Before Kota could even finish, Soma cuts him off with a dismissive growl. Even the sound of Kota's voice was starting to piss him off.

"Don't even bother hiding it buddy, look at your necklace." Soma looks down and sees it shining a bright orange like boiling lava.

"Like I said, you're worried." Remembering that it was this same necklace that got them there in the first place, Soma attempts to yank it off but just as his hand reaches the lion shaped necklace, he freezes and unwillingly, his mind wandering in thought, he clenches the necklace in his palm.

"Tch." He couldn't do it. He couldn't find it in himself to remove the betraying necklace from his neck. She gave it to him. That was reason alone but the fact that it was the first thing that she ever gave him and that it could possibly be the only thing that she'll ever give him, he just couldn't do it.

He pulls out the list of colors that Vendetta had given him and scans through them in an attempt to take his mind off the frustratingly long wait. His eye spots the color violet blue and he widens his eyes at the meaning, remembering that his necklace had shone that exact same hue of violet just a few hours before.

"Hey~ What's got you blushing? That's so unlike you, Soma." Kota notes. Vendetta was right in giving him a mood necklace, it made it a whole lot easier for people to understand him. Soma stares at the protruding pinkness, mutters a curse and hides the necklace under his shirt.

With thoughts of her lingering in his mind, he waits silently, as with the rest of the god eaters who cared for their young leader, for the medics to be done with whatever they had to do. Finally, after what felt like hours, Sakuya emerges from the room.

Everyone looked on expectantly, even Soma stood from his seat, agitation clearly written in his face. Sakuya, eyes laced with tears, merely gave a slight shake of her head and Soma blanches at the gesture's implication. His eyes widens and his back rests on the wall in shock.

"It's no use, I can't establish a resonance with her." Alisa, coming out just a few seconds afterwards, mutters sadly.

"She isn't responding to any oracle cell we inject into her body. We can't heal her. I'm sorry." Sakuya apologizes and covers her face with the palm of her hand. Her tears continue to flow and by now everyone looked just about ready to cry. Lindow embraces her with his arm and whispers to her words of assurance. That it wasn't her fault. That it wasn't anybody's fault.

"Soma, we should get your wounds treated as well." After finally calming down, Sakuya offered with a ration held ready in her hand. Soma clicks his tongue and tries to bite back a snarl. Soma knew that it wasn't her fault. In fact, he thinks that if anyone was to blame, it would be him. He was the reason she was laying there lifeless in the first place.

"If you have the time to heal me then why don't you heal her instead?! I'm fine!" But he couldn't resist the bitterness he feels deep inside. Everything in him felt hollow knowing that he would never hear her snarky remarks ever again.

"But Soma, you didn't even heal yourself before you brought her in!" Sakuya insists. Soma's wounds may not have been as deep as Vendetta's but they surely weren't artificial. That much was certain to the trained medical eye and Sakuya's eyes were usually better than most.

He couldn't risk it at the time. All the rations he carried with him, he preserved to keep Vendetta from dying. Even then, her wounds were far too extensive, requiring an expertise far beyond his basic knowledge of medicine.

Blind rage was what probably saved him from becoming aragami food. Though he tries to avoid the thought whenever possible, Soma couldn't help but think that he could handle losing a comrade or two. Just not Vendetta. Not their leader. Not their savior. Not his savior. Not her. Anyone but her.

This line of thought was what made him truly think that he wasn't capable of being human after all. He was able to devour Shio for the greater good but when he tries to put Vendetta in that same situation, his mind freezes. He couldn't do it. Damn the whole world to hell, he'd never raise his god arc against her.

Recovering from his initial shock, Soma bursts into the room. Clear rage intent on his face. Seeing her laying on the bed without so much as a glance his way, Soma couldn't control himself. He makes his way towards her.

"Wake the hell up, damn it!" He exclaims to her. As expected, he receives no answer in return. What was he expecting? That maybe she would just wake up and poke fun at him like she always does? Or that maybe she would chide him for taking out his anger on Sakuya a few moments before? Whatever it was, he just wanted her to wake up. Soma had never wished for anything as badly as he does now.

"Wake up." His voice grows weaker and in a final attempt to wake her, he reaches for her hand, drained of its blood. The moment his hand touched hers, Alisa's stories of resonance finally made sense to him. First there was a flash, like someone had blinded him with a stun grenade. Then everything else felt like a dream, only he knew that he was awake.

"I need to let go." It was Vendetta's voice. Darkness. That was the only thing that he could see. Darkness stretching beyond even his enhanced vision. There was nothing to guide him forwards, just the sound of her voice. He remembers that Alisa had once told them that their resonance took place in her past while Lindow's explanation was far more complex for them to understand.

So whose past was this? His? Or hers?

"This has to stop." It was her again. Suddenly the darkness disappears and all he could see himself with Eric. He saw the events which led to their less than pleasant first introduction. Then the whole image changes and all he could tell was that they were at the doc's lab. The smile she gave them, much like the one he saw at the Forgotten Temples, when they realized the closeness between Shio and him.

Another flash and he's taken to the moment where he was forced to devour Shio and all he could feel was guilt. He couldn't tell what was which exactly but for some reason, he felt that this guilt didn't belong to him. It was hers. She loved Shio ,that much everyone was sure, but when Soma was forced to devour her, she almost felt glad.

That notion alone tore her apart more than anyone else would have known. Underneath her well constructed facade of a devil-may-care attitude, the guilt she felt thereafter was immeasurable. She felt like a monster. Worse than aragami, and worse than what Soma and Shio think themselves to be. She felt hideous.

'Just what the hell is going on?' He asks to no one in particular.

Suddenly, everything changes once again and he finds himself staring directly at her. They were at the temples again and she was looking at the moon. They were still in resonance but Soma couldn't even tell anymore. Everything felt too damn real to be just a dream but at the same time, nothing felt real at all.

"The moon is soaked in sadness." Soma hears her recite the song by heart and he listens to her as intently as he did the first time. As if all was right in the world. As if she die from protecting him. As if he wasn't royally pissed off at her right now. She smiled. A smile that almost killed him inside and Soma clicks his tongue in irritation.

Suddenly, he was in her room. He'd only been into her room once or twice, under orders from Lindow of course, but he'd been there enough times to recognize the scent of her at every corner. The door opens and he sees her and Kota walking through it. No words had been said, Kota merely handed her the necklace that he knew far too well to mistake for anything else and went on his merry way.

"Idiot." He mutters to himself. He lost a night's sleep because of this! Suddenly all the irritation he felt (well, maybe not all of it) for Kota lifts like a curse dispelled. The whole situation seemed laughable.

"Who are you calling an idiot?" She answers and Soma raises his head up to find that the resonance had ended but Vendetta was still laying there seemingly unaffected. He grits his teeth and clenches his jaw. Was his mind playing tricks on him? Then, in the midst of his musings, she opens her eyes.

As if she was waking up from a short nap, she smiles at him. Immediate relief washes through him but after realizing that she hadn't left out of the whole ordeal unscathed, anger rose inside of him (towards himself more than anyone else), he storms out of the room, leaving one severely confused Vendetta.

* * *

**Oh wow, it took me weeks to write this one. Getting the story going is harder than what most people think. I had a pretty severe writer's block. Even after playing the game again I still can't get Soma into character :S but I decided that 'what the heck, love makes you do OOC things' so my dear readers, thank you for your reviews, seriously I love you all. (*^_^*) I hope that you guys are still interested in reading this story. (Even though I'm a little confused with what I wrote myself)**


	6. The Light Of Life Is A Flood Of Emotions

**THE LIGHT OF LIFE IS A FLOOD OF EMOTIONS**

"_I guess I did teach you that, didn't I? A flood of emotions...happiness, sadness, anger, hatred, fear...love...the feelings that keep you alive and make you truly human."_

* * *

After her impromptu KIA act, Vendetta was made to rest for the whole evening and the day after under orders from Paylor and Tsubaki. Now, she wasn't usually the type to follow such orders, thinking back on the incident just a few months ago when her god arc shattered to pieces. Tsubaki had sternly ordered her to rest despite the aragami infiltration but Vendetta wasn't about to just let Licca be devoured by an Ogretail right in front of her eyes.

Of course, when Tsubaki reproached her with the fact that if she had followed her orders in the first place, then she wouldn't have been anywhere near the engine room in the first place. Vendetta counters this by saying if that were to happen then Licca would be dead and she'd have no one left to talk to about bullets and the like. At this, even the sharp-tongued Tsubaki was left with nothing to say.

Though Licca was mad at her for quite some time (for touching Lindow's god arc), Vendetta always did have her way with people and soon enough even Tsubaki had let her violation of direct orders slide and Tsubaki never let anything slip past her. Vendetta quite literally had everyone wrapped around her fingers. Free to control them with her charming wit however she pleased. Sometimes, though Tsubaki would never openly admit it, Vendetta's ability to affect people's hearts worries her.

Tsubaki knew far too well the repercussions that came with fond attachment especially in their line of work where god eaters could go as easily as they come. She fears the consequences that came with their attachment to her. As per Soma's words, 'Everybody dies. Some just sooner than the others'.

Someday, much like today, Vendetta might not return from a mission alive and, as proven by how they all reacted to the whole situation, Tsubaki's fears were clearly not unfounded. When word of Vendetta's apparent death got loose, sixteen missions were abandoned and twelve were intentionally failed. Everyone was clearly rushing to return home to see their much beloved leader even if it meant disobeying Tsubaki. She notes silently to herself that she would give them all a thorough explanation of what it means to be a gods eater later on.

Back in the sick bay, however, much to Vendetta's dissatisfaction, when orders came from both the acting director of Fenrir's Far East branch and Tsubaki (the only person she fears more than an Ouroboros), it leaves her with little choice but to accept absolute standstill quite against her will. Furthermore, as a precaution, Tsubaki had asked Dr. Sakaki to lock the sick bay from the outside so that visitors could come in but patients, particularly the ones prone to disappearing acts, couldn't get out.

It was the second day of her self-proclaimed imprisonment and Vendetta was dying out of boredom if nothing else. Everything in the den was slowly returning to normal with their leader's apparent resurrection. Tsubaki was currently giving the present god eaters who had abandoned their missions a revision on how one should not treat orders from their superiors (with promises of swift and painful death should anything of the sort were to happen again).

Sakuya breathes a deep sigh of relief. One, because she had decided to stay on base that day and thus giving her clearance from Tsubaki's "revision". Second, because Vendetta was currently alive and well. She was making a huge scene down at the sick bay, bolting for the door just as soon as someone opens it, but at least she wasn't dead.

Vendetta's supposed death had thoroughly chilled everyone to their bones. Sakuya couldn't believe the reactions it brought. Sure, she knew that Vendetta had close ties with just about everyone in the den, what with her helping them out on their missions more than just occasionally but Sakuya had no idea that they adored her to the point that they would risk a lecture with Tsubaki just to see her.

But Soma's reaction took the cake. No one has even seen him look so...terrified. When she announced Vendetta dead, Sakuya could recognize the look on Soma's face. It was far too familiar. His expression then was the same one she wore when Tsubaki had pronounced Lindow Killed-In-Action herself. It was the look of someone who's lost everything and was left with nothing. When Soma stormed out of the room after Vendetta's waking, Sakuya wonders if he still hasn't realized what he felt for the girl.

"Do you think Soma will ever realize how he feels for her?" She asks Lindow within the quarters of their room. Lindow, who had been laying on the couch with a beer in hand, puts down his can and sits up to look at her. Knowing exactly who she was talking about.

"I think he already does. He's just too stupid to understand it yet but give him some time. Besides, it took me a while to tell you how I felt didn't I?" Lindow answers and Sakuya smiles at his seemingly inattentive nature. Despite his usual devil-may-care attitude (much like someone else she knows too well), Sakuya knows that Lindow cares deeply for the people around him.

"Who knows how long it'll take him though." He continues. Soma might never admit it. In fact, he may never come to terms with it but Lindow could only hope that Soma doesn't end up like him who only understood after being apart from the woman he loved for so long.

After what happened today, he hopes that Soma realizes soon enough that you could never truly understand what you have until the day comes when it's taken away from you. And he's talking from experience here. Life is far too short in their line of work especially for gods eaters like Vendetta who would sooner jump in an Ouroboros's path than see her comrades die.

Speaking of said gods eater, Vendetta groans for what felt like the forty-eighth time that day. She wishes vehemently for Soma to walk through those doors so that she would have someone to tease but he didn't. In fact, she hasn't seen him since yesterday after he stormed out of the sick bay in none-too-subtle rage, his necklace shining crimson all the while.

Then a zooming sound resounded throughout the room, indicating the opening of metallic doors. Vendetta turns her head in the hopes of finding Soma but instead was met with a chirpy looking Kota and an equally cheerful Alisa who followed behind him. There was a momentary silence between them which was then broken by the deep sound of Vendetta's sigh. Disappointment clearly written in her features.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Kota exclaims. Here he was trying to relieve some of her boredom with his personal collection of Bugarally's best episodes and she didn't even look happy to see him!

"Why do I have to see your bug face this early in the morning? And if you two wanted to go on a date, couldn't you have chosen to get a room, particularly not this one?" Vendetta pouts mockingly. Her face evidently showing signs of dismay.

"Truly. Even in your current state, how do you never fail to be so snide?" Flustered, Alisa flips her hair back and adjusts her hat. Kota mirrors her reaction to Vendetta's minus the flipping of the hair and Vendetta could only smile, clearly amused by their antics.

"I try." Vendetta answers, an almost feral grin on her face. Alisa starts with a slight 'humph' but then she couldn't help the smile that slowly bloomed on her face and giggles softly at their leader's behavior. Vendetta was shuffling around Kota's Bugarally collection, knowing full well that he likes to keep them in a (surprisingly) neat and numerical order.

"Just pick one already!" Kota screams at the top of his lungs. He couldn't bear to see his precious collection be tossed and turned without being put in their proper place. Kota could barely keep himself from rearranging his disks back in their correct order, knowing that Vendetta would just shuffle them up again just to get a reaction from him.

"Have you guys seen Soma anywhere? I haven't seen him since yesterday." Ignoring Kota's apparent distress, Vendetta asks them directly, not even bothering to hide the change of her tone with the mention of Soma's name. Of course both of her closest friends already knew how she felt, though if she could help it, she could do without their pity.

She already understands without having the need for them to tell her that Soma's heart would forever belong to the girl on the moon. Was it really all that wrong for her to have just the slightest bit of hope that maybe someday his heart could also belong to her?

"Yeah~ Where is Soma anyway? You'd think that he'd be here considering that he wouldn't even let go of you when I wanted to take you to the sick bay." Kota muses. Vendetta's heart jumps slightly at the implication of his words but soon after, she writes it off as just Soma being worried over a dying comrade.

She was satisfied with the thought alone. She decides that she didn't need him to love her like he did Shio. She didn't need him to give his heart to her. She just wanted to be as close as possible to him until the day she dies, that wasn't too much to ask now was it?

"Oh, and you should've seen him when Sakuya pronounced you dead, I think he could've almost cried." Kota was exaggerating the sentence a bit with the movement of his arms but then he wouldn't be Kota if he didn't.

"He almost crie- wait, I'm dead?!" Vendetta exclaims in shock. Nobody said anything about her dying! Was that why she hasn't seen Soma anywhere? Was she living in purgatory like in one of those old movies Kota made her watch? Vendetta's face clearly showed signs of distress and Alisa couldn't help but to let her anxiety draw out a bit more before explaining things to her just to teach their leader a lesson for always being such a tease.

"Calm down. The doctor's still analyzing the 'how's and 'why's but Soma established a resonance with you at the last minute and that brought you back." Alisa explained, finally satisfied after a moment has passed. Noticing the panicked expression on Vendetta's face, however, Alisa's amusement quickly turns into worried concern.

"He...he resonated with me?" Vendetta pales at the thought. She knew far too well the workings of resonance, what with her being the one to first encounter it and the only explanation she could garner from Soma's anger would have to be from what he saw within the confines of her heart. She could think of nothing else that could have made him so outraged apart from the guilty relief of having Shio gone which has plagued her mind ever since.

"H-hey, Tsubaki told you to stay put and give that back!" Vendetta quickly rises from her bed, snatching Kota's ID card from his pocket without giving him the chance to react, she walks out of the sick bay using said ID card (for she couldn't use her own) intent on her search for Soma.

Stepping out of the elevator, she turns left and right, hoping silently that Soma was somewhere in the lounge and that Tsubaki was still busy lecturing the others. Vendetta quickly makes her way towards Hibari's counter when she found no signs of him anywhere. She even checked his room to no avail.

"Vendetta? What are you doing here?" Hibari asks their unusually flustered leader, noting the anxiety evident on her face.

"Hey, have you seen Soma anywhere?" She asks urgently, her eyes set on the elevator as if someone could walk out of those doors any minute and confine her back to her room. Hearing the seriousness in her voice (which was as rare as Lindow's), Hibari starts typing away on her Norn database.

"I'm calculating his GPS signal as we speak and...got it, he's at the Forgotten Carrier. Did something happ-" Without even waiting to let her finish, Vendetta dashes off to the main elevator, ordering a helicopter to be ready for her over the intercom on the way.

The whole chopper ride to the Carriers, Vendetta brooded silently to herself, surprising the pilot who usually found her with more things to say than she could think of. He had never seen stop to think about what she should or shouldn't say, opting to just say whatever comes to her mind. Hence, Vendetta in her current state was certainly a curios sight to behold.

Vendetta found herself with a lot to think about (a lot more than what she was accustomed to). What she wanted to say to Soma when she actually found him was beyond her. Maybe she should apologize? What would she say? 'I'm sorry for being relieved that you had to devour the girl you love' doesn't sound any better in her head let alone out loud.

In her silent agonizing, the pilot had to beep her intercom just to get her attention. He signals for her to jump out, indicating that they've reached their destination. As she lands fluidly to the ground, her eyes caught sight of what used to be the Aegis project and she winces. She knew what this place meant to Soma. This was where they heard Shio sing her song of goodbye.

Making her way towards the end of the carrier, she wonders if she should just turn around right now and return to the den before she digs herself an even deeper grave than she already did. She could still go back and pretend like nothing's happened.

"No." She says to herself. Nothing would change if she ran away now. She was the one who told everyone to never run away from living and it was high time she followed her own orders. Vendetta decides that to live without Soma in her life wouldn't even be considered living at all. Steeling her resolve, she walks forward and soon enough, she spots him sitting on the edge of the carrier, staring off into the sea, his expression unreadable.

Her steeled resolve is shaken at the sight of him and it took her all the courage she could muster just to keep from running back. Hadn't she already accepted a long time ago, from the moment she saw them together, that she would never have his heart? She contemplates returning home once again but part of her screamed out to just get this over with. Before she knew it, she was already standing directly behind him. The chance for her to run had already passed far behind her.

"What's got you looking so down? Thinking about Shio again?" Vendetta tries but her efforts were met with only silence. Soma gave no indication that he acknowledges her presence despite tuning into her footsteps from the moment she got off the helicopter. Something in him stirred as she got near him and he remembers why he was so pissed off at her in the first place.

"You're ignoring me again." She says to him. Though if you could call counting the number of steps she took just to get to him 'ignoring' then he was doing a pretty fine job at it.

"Soma." She starts again, noting with disdain that the necklace she had given him was nowhere in sight. She couldn't tell how he was feeling anymore but it didn't take anyone much to figure out that he was extremely pissed off.

"Shut up." His growl was dismissive but Vendetta was determined to set things right.

"I-" She tries but was cut off by the booming of his voice.

"I said shut the hell up!" She winces at his sudden outburst and for the first time since he's known her, she did.

"Leave me alone." Apparently, this was odd day because Vendetta actually left him without another word. Soma expected some form of protest but was met with only silence, he finally looks back only to find that she's gone. For reasons that escape him, he's never felt more like a monster than he does now. Soma hears her footsteps soften to the point that it disappears completely from his hearing range.

Vendetta walks to the other edge of the carrier with a heart heavier than Soma's buster blade. Hadn't she known this all along? Stepping away from him almost felt enlightening for her. It was like she was finally walking away from the hope, the slightest bit of expectation that maybe someday, Soma could look at her and love only her.

Soma didn't know what was wrong with him. If he had to sum up the reason why he was so angry then he'd say 'I don't know'. Whenever it concerned a certain red-eyed, raven-haired rookie leader, he just couldn't understand anything. If what he felt for Shio was love then this was far from it. With Shio, things were simple, she understood what it felt like to be just like him and that was reason alone for him to love her.

But everything about Vendetta is never simple from the first moment he laid eyes on her. If she just stayed away from him like he told her to then he wouldn't have to sit here thinking about this mess he's got himself into. He could be off somewhere, killing aragami by himself like he usually did before she came along. Instead she got closer. Too close. To the point that now it was him who couldn't stay away.

He can't control anything when he's around her. Her very presence clouds his ability to think coherently and more often than not, he finds himself smirking at a stupid little joke that she told him or on the worst of days, her smile was the only thing he could think of. Every time she chooses to go on a mission with anyone else, be they new-type rookies or old-type scouts (he swears underneath his breath) he gets irritated to no end.

Something in him jumps in joy (though he hates to admit) whenever she seeks his company after returning from her missions, even if she just wanted to talk and find someone to have petty arguments with. Those small banters consequently became his only amusement before he drifts off into sleep at night.

Another thing that's been pissing him off lately was the fact that he admitted to sooner damning the world than raise his god arc against her. Why could he do the exact same thing to Shio, the girl he claims to love, but not to her, the troublesome, meddlesome, snidely teasing, reckless chatterbox of a leader which he has claimed to hate more times than he could count?

Which brings him back to their resonance. The guilt she felt for being relieved. He just doesn't get it. Why would she be glad that Shio had to leave for the moon? And if she was, why the impending guilt soon after? She cared for Shio, he knew that, but then why would she ever want her gone?

Frustrated, Soma lets out an infuriated growl, loud enough to scare away even the bravest of aragami. He reaches for his necklace, tucked underneath his shirt and notes the yellowish-greenness it exhibited. Pulling out the list of colors and their meanings, crumpled on the side of his jacket, he scans through it for an answer. Finally spotting "Yellow-Green – Complications" underneath "Deep Violet – Love", Soma blatantly glares at the offending piece of paper in his hand.

"Complications." He says to himself. Was love supposed to be this complicated?

Something must have been wrong with this stupid list. Soma Schicksal wasn't in love. The girl he fell in love with is sitting on the moon all by herself. What he felt wasn't regret. This pang in his heart was...well he couldn't tell what it was but it sure as hell wasn't regret. And pushing her away didn't feel like devouring Shio all over again. Not at all. Not. One. Bit.

Scowling, Soma notices his necklace shining violet-brown in defiance. Looking back at his list and spotting "Violet-brown – Regret" underneath "Lava-Orange – Worry", he clicks his tongue and growls in frustration.

"Stupid list." Fetching his god arc which had been laying beside him all this while, he rests it on his shoulders and makes his way back home and, whether he knew it or not, back to the girl that always had his heart from the start.

* * *

**Yes, Soma, love IS that complicated. Har har. Don't get me wrong, I like Shio but I can't help pairing her up with Ren [#_#] no matter how confusing the story would be. Those two would look so cute together! 3**

**Whoo~ This is the longest thing I've ever written for...anything! Seriously, not even my essays are this long (Im so happy with myself :3) I'm on a roll so I present to you the sixth chapter of 'Over The Clouds'. I'm planning to end this soon (I don't think I can keep it going any longer than I already have T_T) So the next chapter's gonna be the last one (I hope) :p **

**Just to clear things up (because even I found Chapter 5 confusing LOL), since Vendetta passed out at the end of Chapter 4, Chapter 5 explains what happened between the moment she loses consciousness up to the point that she wakes up. So forgive me if it looks a little messy uhuhu...**

**As always, thank youuuuu for taking the time to read this! I 3 you all, and a special thank you to lunyan (for making me realize how jumbled up Chap 4-5 was and for reviewing so quickly \(_)/ hehe~ TQ) ****See Ya'll Soon :3**

**-FreakishMind OUT!**


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